This study was designed to test the validity of a theo retical interpretation of the use of non-medical drugs by college students that views drug use as a subcultural phe nomenon . A questionnaire intended to obtain information concern ing drug use among students was administered to a random sample of undergraduate classes in a relatively large urban university in the Southeastern United States during the Spring of 1973. The multivariate analysis of the data seemed to support the main thesis of

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... this study that drug use among college students may primarily be viewed as a subcultural phenomenon in the sense that drug-using students tend to share attitudes directly concerned with their drug-using behavior. It was also shown that external reinforcers linked to the immediate university setting are much more significant in shaping the student's attitudes with respect to drugs and drug use than his social background and demographic characteristics or drug use prior to his entry into the university. viii